Sunday, September 30, 2007

FRANKFURT AM MAIN

ON THE WAY TO KOBLENZ - DECEMBER 2005

I was in Frankfurt many times, mostly to attend meetings at the European Monetary Institute or at its successor, the European Central Bank (to see how unsure was the building of such a body, at least from an American perspective, just read Allan Greenspan's preface to his book «The Age of Turbulence»).

This time, the reason to go was much more sympathetic: Our daughter, while we were in Bali, moved to Germany to spend one semester at the WHU (Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung ) - Otto-Beisheim School of Management. The move, by the end of August 2005, was due to the Erasmus Programme, a programme to encourage and support academic mobility of higher education students within the European Union. The WHU has its basis in Vallendar, a small village by the Rhine, quite near to Koblenz, and Di’s stay gave rise to her blog – Bloguendar! (Amazingly enough, the WHU has an Executive MBA Programme together with the Kellogg School of Management (established in 1908 at Evanston, Illinois, USA, and affiliated with the Northwestern University. This MBA programme celebrates its 10th Anniversary in Frankfurt, this weekend – 28/29 September 2007.

So, on our way to Koblenz, we spent one night in Frankfurt!

"MANHATTAN IN FRANKFURT - The European Central Bank building is the last tower towards the right-hand side at the first picture"

"INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL FRANKFURT - Most of the times, I stayed at the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof Hotel, just around the corner to the EMI (today, to the ECB). But I also like the Intercontinental, not so close to the ECB, but with a great view towards either the city or the Rhine, and much more convenient to walk to the Main Railway Station"

"THE RHINE with a view of the Holbeinsteg, a pedestrian bridge - opened in 1990 - that allows you to reach the southern museum embankment. The golden spots on the pictures are a reflection of a lamp at the Intercontinental top floor business lounge"

"HAUPTBAHNHOF - As seen from the First Class Lounge! The train was late, so we had to spend our time somewhere..."

27 comments:

I must admit, Frankfurt is a city that has never really come across my radar. I know NOTHING about it, except it is in Germany.You know, I love visiting your blog, and you always supply lots of interesting facts, so I hope you don't take this as a criticism, but I would like to know more about how a place makes you "FEEL".(thank you for your kind thoughts on my recent post - every little one of them helps!)

Big railway stations are fascinating...so many people coming and going, so always a bustle about the place, exotic destinations on noticeboards, all those associated noises...wonderful.Like Freefalling, I also know nothing about Frankfurt, so thank you for helping me to find out.

hola!I haven't been in Germany yet, but I wish I could sometime. I don't have one idea about this city, and now that I see your pics I can say I didn't expect those high buildings there! what a surprise!Oh i'm sure your daughter had a greaaat tme during her ERASMUS. Have a nice week! oh i'm so embarrased i don't know a word in portuguese...

Hey, I did Erasmus too. I spent a semester in London - at Greenwich University. Quite a change of space: so relaxed and a program so light, which did not give us any exemptions though - the alma mater being a bit on the elitist side made us do all the exams of the semester we missed in Brussels - so Erasmus was kind of a double semester for everybody. I think they changed it for the next promotions. But in any case, I do not regret it one bit.Thanks for the visit of Frankfurt!! You are a good tour guide!

I have not been in Frankfurt either, but I have traveled through East Germany by buss with my youngest daughter twenty years ago. I hate even word politic and this my daughter was asking something from this subject. I decided to show, not to say anything and ordered a bus journey from Helsinki to Vienna. We went through southern Sweden and then by a ship to Poland and after that we drove through whole East Germany. My daughter was looking from windows ( we saw also those black walls of Dresden), she did not say anything hours, but then she asked, how athletics of East Germany can be able to exercise here, I can not see any flowers in backyards ? ( She was 13 years then ) Then after driving through Czechoslovakia ( we saw those dead trees on the mountains )and then over the border of Austria. And she said, look at those flowers mom. No need to say anything :)But that was not it, what I was thinking, when I came here, sorry, I have not remembered years, that we have done this bus trip.I was thinking other trip, that Petra in Jordan. I did not find it from your list, have you been there! We were there with professor Jaakko Frösen, who is making excavations there. He was telling during one week interesting things, Oh, sorry, this is not comment, this is a memoirs of the old person!!

Hi everybody!Sorry for having been a bit absent lately, but I was abroad in a professional trip last week. One day I’ll probably show some pictures from a somehow unusual tourist destination!

Freefalling,Glad to read that you love to see my blog.Frankfurt is now a little more known, as it is home to the European Central Bank. The Bank is responsible for the Euro, now the official currency for thirteen countries stretching from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle (namely Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain). And, as from January 1st, 2008, the Euro will also be the currency of Cyprus and Malta. It is also used in Andorra, San Marino, the Vatican, Montenegro, and Kosovo. Over 300 million people use it daily!There are many reasons to make a place “feel”: friends, people, culture, landscape… Frankfurt is probably not on the top of the most exciting places to go, but sometimes there simply fantastic opera performances... Great reason to visit it!

Cuckoo,Frankfurt airport is a great hub, and a most important connection centre. For my taste, we may have to walk too much to move from one gate to other. But it seems to be like this everywhere in the newly built airports...

Tanya,Thanks. It’s good, but still there is so much to see...

Cabacurl,I love railway stations, though I prefer airports; probably, more because they are places from where you depart, rather than places where you arrive...

Neva,Thanks. The problem is that it’s not such a small world, and there is still so much to see...

Eliane,It’s true that now they give you credits for the exams you make during the Erasmus semesters, but still there are some tricky points to settle. Anyhow, there are still at least two kinds of Erasmus: either you choose the University for the fun the city and the people may provide you with (and you go to Rio de Janeiro,...); or you choose it by the quality of the school, and even if you have fun, you work a lot...

Travelphilippines,Envy? What shall I say of your Philippines’ posts?

Shionge,I suspected that you wouldn’t have an aversion to a city like Frankfurt...

Marie,Amazing: I just missed the German Embassy party in Lisbon, as I was travelling. So, no Wurst, no Eisbein, no Bier...

Kalyan,Thanks, once again.

Backpakker,That’s a problem: many times a city with a great airport is only a transit place...

Leena,Truly thanks for the comment, actually an added post improving my blog. I can imagine your trip; I was in USSR in 1977, in Hungary in 1978 (which was somehow different), but not in East Germany, Czechoslovakia or Poland by that time. About the athletes, it’s said that there were other mechanisms to improve performance. Like with Marion Jones and others…Petra with a professor making excavations there must have been a dream trip; would have loved to go. One day...

Lv2,Thanks.

Moi,It seems to have happened to many visitors to this post: flying to and from Frankfurt airport and never getting to the city! Funny that golden dome...

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PRE-DIGITAL ERA

This blog started with the pictures taken in the digital era, which means from November 2000 onwards. For the pre-digital period - photos scanned either from paper or from negatives - I created the Revivals:BLOGTROTTER 70s & 80sandBLOGTROTTER 90s.